The pedagogics of disability : Indigenous intersectionalities in the age of austerity

It is well established and documented within the United Nations that Indigenous peoples within settler-colonial regimes experience some of the highest rates of disability and chronic illness. Yet, there has been limited pedagogic consideration of the possible importance of disability rights in promoting, protecting and securing the rights of Indigenous peoples and communities in the settler-colonial context. Core questions, such as what does disability teach us about settler-colonial relationships of racialised power, what role does disability and disablement play in Indigenous dispossession in settler-colonial regimes, and how does the state denial of disability social and economic rights further Indigenous people’s oppression, are critical if we are to fully identify, challenge and disrupt the uneven production and distribution of disability currently experienced by Indigenous peoples. In this chapter, we explore the important pedagogic opportunities afforded through interrogating the role of disability rights in the lives of Indigenous peoples subjected to settler-colonial regimes of power, through drawing upon intersectional orientations of human rights praxis.